Help | Take11

Add to My Collection

How do I add videos and dvds to my Take11 collection?

At present, there are four ways:

use the Add To My Collection page to search Amazon or Netflix for your movie.
use the Manually Add page. If you add manually, note that a Take11 record for one movie contains over 20 fields that you can populate with information; however, only the Title is required—all others are optional.
use the Mass Add page, which allows you to enter barcodes to obtain Amazon data on up to ten movies at one time.
use the Upload Page to upload a file of data to your collection. See the Upload Movie Data topic on this Help Page.

How do I get search results from Amazon into my collection?

Your search results appear in the left column.
To add a particular title to your collection, just click on the info appearing in the left column for your selection.
After your click, the page will reload with your selection appearing at the top of the right column.
Click on any title in the right column to edit your record for that title.

I'm having trouble getting the right results from a search at Amazon. What to do?

The most reliable way to find exactly the item you seek is to enter either the EAN or UPC into the search box on the Add To My Collection page. The EAN and/or UPC appear above or below the bar code on the case for a DVD or video. Unfortunately, older products (including most VHS videos) were not labeled with bar codes.

Without an EAN or UPC, you must search using keywords. The best approach is to use 3 or 4 words from different categories. For example, try (a) one or two important words from the title, (b) the last name of a starring actor, and (c) either DVD, video, Blu-ray, etc. Often just a couple of key words from the title will be enough.

Backups of User Data

Is the data in my collection being backed up?: Currently, the user's database is being backed up and moved from the server twice an hour. Go to the About page to see the time elapsed since the last back up.
Should I back up my collection?: Definitely. You should backup your collection after every N records have been added, where N is the number of records you are willing to re-enter if any data are lost. Generally, N > 10 but < 100.

(1) Go to the upload/download page.

(2) On the left of that page, click on download "My entire collection". A new file should appear on your Desktop. Depending on your OS, you may be prompted for a directory in which to save the file.

(3) Now, I suggest you do not open this file; leave it in pristine condition in case you need to use it to rebuild your collection.

(4) If you want to look at the backup file, say in MS Excel, make a copy of the original file and look at the copy.

(5) If at some future point, you need to rebuild your collection on the Take11 server, return to the Take11 page cited above in (1), browse on your machine to select your pristine original file, and click on the upload button.

Browser Options

What browser should I be using?: The Take11 site has been checked in the most popular browsers: IE8, IE9, Firefox on Windows, Firefox on Mac, Chrome on Windows, Chrome on Mac, and Safari. To take advantage of special features on this site, you must have JavaScript enabled on your browser.

At the moment, we find that Chrome, Firefox, and Safari out-peform other browsers on data-intensive sites like Take11. Firefox is a free download from Mozilla. Chrome is a free download from Google.

IE6 and IE7 are not supported. Users of IE6, IE7, and IE8 are encouraged to upgrade to Firefox or Chrome.

Request New Features, Report Bugs

How can I report a bug or request a feature for the site?: Please use the Take11 blog to communicate with Tricia. We need your feedback to improve. And note that positive comments are also useful since they may deter us from changing something that you like.

CueCat Barcode Reader

How To Use a CueCat Reader

The CueCat supported by Take11 is the original "unmodified" version.
The CueCat plugs into a USB port on your computer. We have tested it successfully on both Windows and Mac OS X machines.
The computer recognizes the CueCat as a keyboard, so when you plug it into a USB port, a popup may appear asking you to identify the device. Just close the box.
When plugged in, a red light appears in the nose of the CueCat. If the CueCat does not get sufficient attention, it goes to sleep—the red light blinks. To wake it up, hold the nose against a piece of paper or some other reflecting surface.
The output from the CueCat is an encoded form of the 12-digit UPC barcode found on many US products. To enter that output into an html form, click in the box provided by the form, then scan by running the nose of the device across the barcode.
You may have to practice a bit to find the right speed to scan and the right distance to hold the CueCat from the barcode. The speed and distance will vary somewhat when the barcode is protected by a laminate or plastic coating.
Once the encoded UPC appears in the form box, Take11 software will automatically decode it and send it to Amazon.

Fast Add to a Take11 Collection from CueCat Input

When the script on the Add-To-Collection page senses Cue Cat input, it puts a checkbox on the page, just under the Amazon search box.
Just check that box if you want to add to your collection directly without confirming.
The first Cue Cat result is not automatically added. After checking the box, you can either (a) manually add the first result (click on the result block) or (b) scan it again and it will be added automatically.
The checkbox should remain checked on subsequent adds; however, the checkbox will be removed whenever you leave the add-to-collection page.
The add-without-confirm feature should only work for CueCat input.

History of CueCats

The CueCat has a somewhat checkered history. See the Wikipedia article (which includes a picture) and links therein.

Availability

CueCats are inexpensive, simple to use, and generally available; for example, check out eBay and LibraryThing.

Download My Collection

How do I download the data in my collection?

You can download your collection as a tab-separated file (viewable in Excel) from the site's Download page. Note this downloads only the record data and not the cover images.

Edit a Record

How do I get my information about a particular movie onto the Edit page?: You cannot access an empty Edit page; instead, you load the Edit page with info about a particular movie by clicking either on the movie's title (not the cover image) or on the link "Edit This Record" when one or the other appears.

Some of the site's pages show a few of your titles; for example, the Add To My Collection page shows recently added titles and your Profile page shows some randomly selected titles as well as some recent additions.

All of your titles can be accessed from the My Collection page and, of course, you can search for a particular title using the site's Search Catalog page.
Sure would be nice to see a complete example of the Edit page.: No problem. Here you are: we call it the Sandbox.

Deleting Records

How do I delete one movie from my Take11 collection?: Go to the Edit Page for the movie and scroll to the bottom of the page. In the left column is the Delete button; it's shaded red/pink. If you click on that button by mistake, you are given a chance to abort the operation before the delete is implemented.

The Delete button is out of the way because in private beta testing the Delete button was in an obvious place, but we found some users were deleting when they were intending some other operation.
Can I simultaneously delete several movies from my collection?: Yes. Go to the MassEdit page. The last column of check boxes on the far right of the table is for deleting multiple records at once. If you check any or all of the boxes in the Delete column, then click the "Make Changes" button, you will be given a chance to confirm your delete order before it is executed.

Yellow Info Buttons

What are the little yellow buttons on some pages?: On some pages that allow user input, such as the search page and massedit page, additional help is available by clicking on the yellow "i" button. Here's a sample that you may click on:

Change Position and Visibility of the Link Panel

I don't like where the link panel appears on every page.: You can change the position and visibility of the link panel on the link-panel preferences page.

Mobile Phone Access

Can I access my collection from my mobile phone?: You can, if you have a browser on your phone. A page listing your titles, media, and genres has been formatted for acccess from mobile devices. That page lets you access various slices of your data, including your wishlist, your private titles, and a list of DVDs you own. See: List of My Titles.

Set My Preferences

What choices do I have about the appearance and use of the Site?

From your Preferences page you can

change your password,
change the skin,
change the position and visibility of the link panel that appears on every page,
edit the list of friends of your collection,
restrict access to your collection,
set default values for certain parameters that are used on your record pages.

Wishlists

How do I put selected movies on my wishlist?: Good question. The answer is not immediately intuitive: first, get the record for the movie into the Edit page. Near the bottom of the Edit page you will see boxes for designating the record as "Owned", "Seen", and "Want to Own." You must set two of these to indicate "Wish"; that is, a record on your wishlist is "Not Owned" but "Want to Own."
How do I see just the records in my wishlist?: Go to the My Collection page and click on the Wishlist button. Or, to see just the titles and covers for wishlist records, go to the Titles and Covers page and click on the Wishlist button there.

Collections of Other Users

How do I see the records in another user's collection?: Go to the Community page. There you will find a list of all users with the numbers of items in each collection. If a collection is "public", then you can click on the number and you will be taken to the My Collection page for that collection. However, if the owner has marked the collection as "private", then you will not be able to view that collection.
How do I see another user's profile?: Go to the Community page. There you will find a list of all users. Click on a user name to be taken to that user's Profile. The amount of information you will be able to see there will depend on the restrictions the user has imposed.
Can I communicate with other users?: Yes. Go to the the user's Profile page (see above). Near the bottom of the left column of the Profile page you should see a link that will enable you to leave a comment for that user. Note that you can choose whether your comment is visible just to the recipient (private) or whether it can be viewed by all (public). Note also that after you post a comment you will not be able to edit it or delete it. Only recipients, not senders, can delete comments from Profile pages.

Pick Random Movie

I want to watch a movie tonight, but I'm too tired to decide which one. Can you help me out?: You bet. I'll pull a random selection from your collection:

Click here

Note: Depending on how you've organized your collection you may not actually own the movie I select. If you don't, come back here and try again. If you are using the fluid-width skin, then you can pull more random slections from your collection by clicking on the "Random Video" link under the "Member Pages" heading at left.

"Own" Parameter vs "Number of Copies"

Must I set both the Own and Number-of-Copies parameters on the EditPage?: The software checks for consistency between these two parameters; e.g., you cannot set Own = no and NumCopies = 2.

If an inconsistency is found, the Own parameter takes precedence, and the code will adjust the value of NumCopies to be be consistent with the value you set for Own. For example, if you set Own = "no" and NumCopies = 1, the value for NumCopies will be automatically changed to 0. And if you set Own = "yes" but NumCopies = 0, the value for NumCopies will be automatically set to 1.

So, in most cases, you need to set just the value for Own. The exception is when you own more than one copy; in these cases, you will have to set values for both Own and NumCopies.

Password and Username

I've forgotten my password. Can you give me another one?: Only if you've given us your email address: either on your Profile page or when you registered through PayPal as a member of this site. If we have no email address, then there is no way for us to know that you are truly the owner of a particular collection. If you put your email address into your Profile, you can block it so no one but Take11 developers can see it. Plan ahead.
How do I change my password?: Use the Change Password page.
How do I change my username?: You cannot change your username on this site. Sorry.

Restrict Access to My Collection

Can you clarify the access restrictions I can impose on my collection?: There are three levels of access: public, friends, and private. Public means anyone has access--including people not logged into Take11 or are even users of Take11. Friends means access is limited to Take11 users who you explicitly identify as friends. You identify friends on your Preferences page. Private means only you have access.

You may impose these levels of access to both (a) your entire collection and (b) to individual records. Go to the Preferences page to set the level of access to your entire collection. Get an individual record into the Edit page to set that record's level of access. The default settings are "public" both for an entire collection and for all its records.

Now, the possible combinations of collection access and record access are limited by the following rule: The level of record access can never be less strict than the level imposed on the entire collection. (A record's access may be more limited than that of the entire collection, but never less limited.)

So, if a collection is set to private, then all records in that collection are also private--no record in a private collection can be set to friends or public.

In a friends collection, records can be set to either friends or private--no record in a friends collection can be made public.

But in a public collection, individual records can be private, friends, or public.
How do I identify certain Take11 users as "friends", so they can see selected parts of my collection?: This is done on your Preferences page.

Search the Site Catalog

I've cataloged 23 movies starring Clint Eastwood, but when I type "Clint" into the site search engine, it doesn't find anything.: Try Clint*
Hey, I've also cataloged 23 movies starring Clint Eastwood, and when I mistyped "Eastwod" into the site search engine, it still finds the 23 records! How do you guys do that?: Magic :)

Search My Collection

How do I find all my movies that I have tagged as "western"?: Go to the search page. The left column there searches just your collection. Enter "western" in the search box and select the "Tags" category. Note that the search is insensitive to case. So if you have tagged some movies with "western" and others with "Western", all will be found and displayed.

Alternatively, go to your Profile page. There you should see a list of your top 20 tags. If "western" is one of those, just click on "western", and all will be revealed.
How do I find all my movies in which Ron Howard directed?: Go to the search page. In the left search box enter "ron howard" and select the "Director" category.
How do I find all my movies in which Ron Howard acted?: Go to the search page. In the left search box enter "ron howard" and select the "Actor" category.

Change Skin

I don't like the colors for the skin.: You can try other color combinations from the choices on your Preferences page.

Special Collections in Catalog

How do I find the movie that won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1975?: Enter "Academy Award, 1975" into the Take11 Search Engine.

Subscriptions to Take11

Help! I don't remember when my current subscription expires.: Your payment status is shown in the Private Info section of your Profile page. Shown there is when the last payment was made and when the current subscription expires.
What happens to my account when my paid subscription expires?: When a subscription lapses, the user is blocked from adding new items to the collection. Users retain access to their collections, and can edit, add info, write reviews, etc to records already in the collection. There may be, in the future, other features that will be blocked to nonpaying users, but whatever they might be, they don't exist yet.
Will there ever be one-payment life-time subscriptions?: It is unlikely that there will be a one-time lifetime fee. Somehow, the site has to become self-supporting: operating costs are unlikely to ever be any cheaper than they are now, and if it's not user supported, then the only alternative would be ads. We really, really don't want ads on the site.

Down the road, we probably will be offering more subscription options; i.e., longer subscription periods with some reduction in the per year rate. It is not clear when this might come--depends on several unknowns.

Upload Movie Data

Can I upload movie data to my Take11 collection?: Yes. You can upload a text file formed from tab-separated columns. Commas can be used to separate actor names and tags. Go to the Upload page. Detailed instructions are given there: click on the yellow "info" button at top right of that page.
If I upload record data to the site, do I have to scan the cover images and upload those too?: When you upload to the server, our software will try to get the cover images from those already in our database; if it is not successful there, it will then try Amazon. Two notes:

(a) We use the EAN or UPC to retrieve cover images, so if an uploaded record does not contain either an EAN or a UPC we will not try to fetch the cover image for that record.

(b) If the software has to go to Amazon, it does so on a time delay so we don't overload Amazon servers. During periods of normal traffic, the software will fetch about five images from Amazon every minute. So if you upload 200 records, expect the process to take about 40 minutes.